The paper describes the validation of the Malay Preschool Language Assessment Tool (MPLAT), a standardized normed referenced language assessment tool for Malay preschoolers within the ages of 4;0-6;11 and whose native language is Malay. The MPLAT (A Razak et al. 2010) is an assessment tool which is designed to assess the areas of receptive language, expressive language and early literacy skills. The MPLAT contains six subtests i.e. picture vocabulary, grammatical understanding, sentence repetition, referential meaning, relational meaning and early literacy skills. This paper is divided into 2 studies. Study 1 tested the psychometric properties and normative data of the diagnostic version of MPLAT on 300 participants recruited from preschools in the rural area of Gua Musang and the urban area of Kota Bahru located in the East Coast state of Kelantan. The construct validity is high with a strong correlation (r = 0.942) between test scores and age, validating the developmental nature of the test. There was also moderate to strong positive correlation between each subtest and the test total, as well as between subtests. It also has high test-retest reliability (r = 0.998 (p < 0.01) and inter-rater reliability (rho = 1.000). The second study looked at the psychometrics properties of the MPLAT short version (screening) compared to the full version diagnostic. The short version of MPLAT is about a quarter of the full (diagnostic) version. About 108 subjects in the urban area of the the Klang Valley, consisting of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, were administered both versions of the MPLAT. The Pearson correlation revealed a strong positive correlation between the total scores and age (r = 0.718, p<.01), and strong positive correlation for the test-retest reliability (r = 0.881, n=12) for the short MPLAT version. For the full version, the Spearman correlation revealed a strong positive correlation between total scores and age (r = 0.791, p<.01) and a very strong positive Pearson correlation for test-retest reliability (r = 0.943). Cronbach's Alpha values demonstrated the internal consistency of the full version (0.972) and short version (0.929). In summary, both versions of the MPLAT were found to be valid tools to screen and diagnose language problems among Malay preschool children in Malaysia. MPLAT also has the potential to be a useful research tool to delineate language development of the preschool Malay children.
Malay Preschool Language Assessment Tool (MPLAT) ; screening tool ; diagnostic tool ; language assessment ; Malay preschool children ; test development ; test validation

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is becoming major health threat worldwide and it is extremely common in clinical setting. Malaysia is one of the highest diabetic populations among Asian countries and the new cases are increasing day to day. Early detection of people with high risk of Type 2 DM by using simple, easy and cost-effective assessment tool is the better way to identify and prevent the community from this non-communicable disease. The objectives of the study were to identify those are high risk to become type 2DM among Malaysians by using risk scoring form and to educate them how to prevent it. Total 591 subjects were recruited from the health screening programs carried out by the collaboration of Petaling Jaya Development Council (MBPJ) and Lincoln University College, Malaysia. Modified form of Finnish Type 2 Diabetes Risk Assessment Tool was used to identify people at risk of becoming type 2 DM. Descriptive analysis was performed for all included variables in this study by using SPSS version 21. The study found out that almost half of the participants were found to have family history of DM, 60% of them were overweight and obese and 47% were having above normal waist circumference. We observed that nearly 60 % of participants in the study were having moderate to high risk of becoming type 2 DM in next 10 years. To conclude, the result of our study would be helpful in implementation of cost-effective, convenient Type 2 DM risk assessment tool which has yet to be implemented in Malaysia.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus ; assessment tool ; health screening ; prevention